Soap Warehouse Blog

In the larger cities like Nassau things are about what they are here in the US just slower, but once you get over to some of the little islands, things are drastically different. These islands are too small for many cars, so they use golf carts! These islands thrive on tourism and they know one way to make a tourist pick them over the competition is appearance. For example: If you had the choice of renting a four person golf cart between 2-3 different companies and they are all located together in the same area at the dock when you landed, would you go to the one where you saw carts up on blocks obviously in need of repair with others with stains on the vinyl, or to the one with scuffs on the cart bodies with pealing decals OR would you head for the one that had gleaming clean carts all nicely parked in a row? Well you guessed right the clean ones rent first.




Have a great week and I am glad to be back home, but it sure was pretty to look at.

I just read some very interesting but true advice I would like to pass on to you.

It is better to be just 1% better for 100 reasons than to be 100% better for only 1.

If you take that philosophy with your business you will see that even little changes make a big difference.

For example if your biggest competitor is always giving a 10% discount to new or referral customers and makes a big point of it in their advertising, then you offer 11%. Not that discounts are the answer, I usually do not recommend them but rather suggest that you give bonus value instead. But you get the idea.

Sometimes you can not out do someone or something by even 1%, take "available by phone 24 hours as day" for an example. But you can offer a faster response time either for a call back or actual booked appointment. But you must be able to follow through on your claims so chose carefully. You could offer a superior brand of stain for deck work instead of the run of the mill that everyone else carries, this does not mean that you do not charge for it, just that you carry and market it as the best in the industry. You can offer free window cleaning with a house wash or complementary gutter cleaning with a roof cleaning. Anything that the customer perceives as you giving that extra 1% over and over during your job for them will make you stand out, get you referrals and more jobs.

Always leave the owners property better then you found it, and I do not just mean on the job you are being paid to do. I mean make sure you pick up all of your trash or even their trash that your cleaning uncovers, within reason. If your service included furniture removal and replacement for a deck or patio cleaning be sure it is put back correctly or better than you found it. It may cost you only a few extra pennies to rinse off those plastic planters, deck chairs or cushions to make them look better. Of course you can always offer side services for a complete through cleaning job on these items first. And you must be willing to do these sort of small jobs that take up extra time before you offer them to the customer. It does you no good to advertise that you offer these services and have to later, while on the job, refuse to do them because you have booked your time so tight that you can not accommodate them. No matter how much pre-planning you do or questions you ask, something else will always come up once you are in front of the customer.

But if you do that extra 1% for customers over and over it will pay off 100 times over.

The next product I would like to discuss is Bio Barrier. I wrote about this product last year but I will mention it again after speaking on Citrus X-terior earlier this week. Bio Barrier is a great follow up product to any cleaning where molds and mildews have been a problem. Like with roof shingles - once the black Gloeocapsa Magma algae has been killed and removed, or with vinyl siding or wood decking- once the green, yellow, or black mold and any mildew has been killed and removed.

Bio Barrier needs to be applied right after a through cleaning of the surface has been done and the area to be treated is thoroughly dried. Bio Barrier is not a mold or mildew killer but rather a growth inhibitor. Bio Barrier protects a surface it is applied to from the harmful micro-organisms that cause odor and mold growth from coming back. A properly treated surface will have effective protection for 6-12 months depending on the environment and frequency of exposure to direct water or indirect moisture.

Bio Barrier does not have to be used on the whole house, roof or deck. You can locate, mark or document, like with photographs or a drawing of the problem areas before cleaning is done to easily locate them later for treatment. Bio Barrier is used straight, not diluted. It can be sprayed, sponged or wiped onto the surface for treatment just so a light but complete wetting of the product is applied to the surface material. Bio Barrier does not have to be used to soak, saturate or be allowed to run down or pool on a surface to be effective.

Bio Barrier can be used as an add on to your normal cleaning as an added value, additionally priced service. For just pennies you could be able to give a no growth guarantee with your cleaning that would be a perceived added value to your customer.

Say for instance you clean a house and a few days later come back to apply Bio Barrier just to the problem areas. If you have left a sign in the yard stating your company name and number, plus left cards with your current customer with a referral offer, you may very well be coming back to that area to do a new job besides doing the Bio Barrier treatment and moving your sign to a different house's yard in the same neighborhood.

Bio Barrier will make you look good to your customers and if you did a quality first cleaning job it should bring you added word of mouth business as well when the mold does not grow back in just a few months. It also gives you a leg up as to why you should come back on a yearly basis to clean the house and retreat for the mold.

Bio Barrier is available in 1 gallon bottles and 5 gallon pails. You can call to order Bio Barrier at 800-762-7911 or go to our web site where you will find a Data Sheet and other valuable information about Bio Barrier.

One of the most dreaded words of the small business owner.

I wanted to share a few tips we have found to pass on along with some other links that may help some of you.

First tip: Get some professional help. I do not mean to have to pay a fortune for this help but too many small business owners think they can do it themselves and find out only years later after an audit, that they either owe money they don't have or wasted money they could have gotten back, but is now too late to recover it.

Even if you just read up on the subject, go on line for a self help like at Entrepreneur.com or pay for a tax filing program you will be ahead of the game.

Here is a link to a great lady I know Diana Crawford. She did tax audit videos for a client and it has helped many people, one link is at the end of this post. Besides just being an accountant with a CPA degree she is an Intuit QuickBooks expert. So if you use QuickBooks and have a problem give her a shout (I suggest you use some type of computer program). She will help anyone or at least steer them to a local person that can. She teaches QuickBooks small business classes for free and does Beta testing for Intuit on new versions of QuickBooks and is an Intuit Trainer. If you already have QuickBooks there is a wealth of free information just through Intuit Support on line.

dcrawford@cmccpas.com is her e-mail. Please indicate on the subject line or in your e-mail that you are a Soap Warehouse customer. She is also available to do any ones businesses taxes, her firm handles clients across the country.

Right now we are planing to start recording her free "How to set up your small business with QuickBooks" sessions so she will have more time to devote to hosting other advanced classes. We are also discussing with her to possibly make a video just for pressure washing businesses to address their specific needs to put on our site. I will let everyone know as soon as new sessions are available.

Next make sure you are tracking every expense. Do you give out coupons or give discounts for services to customers? You need to track that money as cost of advertising, this expense is to be taken against the money you made. If you list your total income minus cost of labor and supplies but forget this amount it could be costing you hundreds of dollars a year in tax savings.

Mileage vs actual cost: Always keep a log book in your company vehicle listing the beginning millage on Jan 1. on the first page and then keep a millage log to and from every customer or stop. List every dollar spent on gas, oil changes, tires, tune ups, repairs etc. I also suggest putting this information into a spreadsheet at least once a week or so. This way at the end of the year you can evaluate if you should take the flat mileage rate of the miles you drove for work or the actual costs of using your vehicle for business. Don't forgot the mileage on your personal vehicle either especially if it is used to do other errands like deposit money in the bank or pick up office supplies. Keep an estimate book in your family , so if you meet someone, hand them a card and give them an estimate, you can write off some of that mileage as well.

Even something as simple as doing your laundry can save you money. If you spend the few extra dollars to put a company name patch on your clothes you are then able to write off not only the cost of the items, but the cost of the patch and cleaning them for the entire year. Because they are then considered a uniform not just personal apparel, but I suggest wearing them sometimes even when you are not working to promote your business name. I will sometimes wear our Soap Warehouse business tag out just to try and start conversations and get new leads. Even putting a sign with your business's name and number on your personal car will allow you to write off the costs it takes to do it plus gives you the added advertising. I have even lent a set of magnetic signs to friends to put on their vehicle when I know are going on a long cross country trip to generate calls. I never know where my next customer may be coming from.

Here is a link to a video Diana did on how to report itemized deductions you might learn from.

Good Luck with Uncle Sam this year.

First I would like to say we had a lovely time in Savannah GA for the PAMA Seminar (Professional Aviation Maintenance Association). We where a Bronze Supporter of this event and it was very nice to meet Aviation Maintenance personal from all over GA and the South. Some knew of our product "Top Gun" but many were introduced to it for the first time. We look forward to work with as many of these great people and companies as we can in the future.

We want to congratulate Mr. Charles Wilson of Luthersville, GA on winning our "Top Gun" product package at our booth. We also want to thank the attendees that bid and won our "Top Gun" product in the PAMA silent auction.

I hope that at least some of our Northern customers get to attend this weekends Pressure Washing Seminar in NY. Soap Warehouse was a Silver Sponsor at that event.

(ADDED LATTER: We wanted to congratulate the four winners of our 5 gallon product door prizes at the Seminar and to Joe Torres the winner of our Exterior sample pack in our drawing from the fax entries we received after the Seminar.)

We are also looking forward to our next event that should be in May over in Charleston SC for a local PWNC (Pressure Washers Network of the Carolina's).

Next we are moving closer to putting our new web site on line. It will have new tabbed features to make navigating through the web site easier. It will eventually allow customers to place orders, choosing the products, sizes and amounts they want with us following up by contacting them back with the total including shipping and expected delivery date.

You will be able to choose and pay for the product total but we will still have to calculate any shipping charges and contact you for payment prior to shipping the order.

You will also be able to download MSDS info for every product. Prices will be listed with each product but an inclusive price list with volume discount pricing will still be available only by logging on to the customer only area or by a request that we send you one by mail, fax or e-mail.

We will have this Blog, Links and other information available to help our customers.

If there is any thing you would like to see on our site please contact us and request it.

I can not believe this is March already!

We have been very busy planing for this year.

We are currently working on designing a new web site that we hope improves our customers enjoyment of our site.

This has been a very cold snowy Winter for many of our customers and as such a slow start to the new year. But with signs of Spring finally peaking through now is the best time to make sure all of your equipment and supplies are ready for the Spring boom.

If you are reading this blog and have not yet given us your e-mail address, please take time to do so. You miss out on so many opportunities when we can not keep you up to date. E-mail your address to soapwarehouse@hotmail.com, subject: add address.

Last December we started a monthly Newsletter which includes information on special offers, contests as well as things you should be aware of such as price changes, up and down. To subscribe go to this page.

This year we plan to get out as much as we can to meet current and new customers. We are supporting both the Mid America Trucking Show the middle of this month & the Northeast Pressure Washer Seminar in NY at the end of this month. We plan on attending a PAMA seminar in Savannah, GA on the 21st of this month, going to and exhibiting in the PWNC meeting mid May in Charleston, SC and later in the year going to TX to exhibit in the 2nd largest Truck Show in the country; The Great American Truck Show in Dallas TX, Aug 20,21 & 22nd. And if we are lucky we will finish out our show year in October exhibiting at the PWNA meeting and supporting again the AOPA Expo in November. Please make plans to come and see us and attend these great events. We will send out more info as the year goes on.

Here is wishing you all a great month and start to the beginning of the pressure wash year.

I can not believe this is March already!

We have been very busy planing for this year.

We are currently working on designing a new web site that we hope improves our customers enjoyment of our site.

This has been a very cold snowy Winter for many of our customers and as such a slow start to the new year. But with signs of Spring finally peaking through now is the best time to make sure all of your equipment and supplies are ready for the Spring boom.

If you are reading this blog and have not yet given us your e-mail address, please take time to do so. You miss out on so many opportunities when we can not keep you up to date. E-mail your address to soapwarehouse@hotmail.com, subject: add address.

Last December we started a monthly Newsletter which includes information on special offers, contests as well as things you should be aware of such as price changes, up and down.

This year we plan to get out as much as we can to meet current and new customers. We are supporting both the Mid America Trucking Show the middle of this month & the Northeast Pressure Washer Seminar in NY at the end of this month. We plan on attending a PAMA seminar in Savannah, GA on the 21st of this month, going to and exhibiting in the PWNC meeting mid May in Charleston, SC and later in the year going to TX to exhibit in the 2nd largest Truck Show in the country; The Great American Truck Show in Dallas TX, Aug 20,21 & 22nd. And if we are lucky we will finish out our show year in October exhibiting at the PWNA meeting and supporting again the AOPA Expo in November. Please make plans to come and see us and attend these great events. We will send out more info as the year goes on.

Here is wishing you all a great month and start to the beginning of the pressure wash year.

Happy New Year!

Sorry I am a bit late but we have been busy planing great things for the new year for our business and you should be doing that as well.

I know how everyone is down and depressed about how last year went, the economy, a new administration and the uncertainty of what this new year will bring for us all.

So let us make plans on the positive side. How many of you know what a SWOT Analysis is?

Well a SWOT is a very simple but helpful tool for you and your business.
S - Strengths
W - Weaknesses
O - Opportunities
T - Threats

Now that you know what the letters stand for let me explain how to use this to analyze your business or any problem or question you come across during the year in running your business.

SWOT analysis provides insight at a point in time - like a snapshot, of whatever you want to analyze. It could be business as a whole, like whether you should add another rig to your business, or even if you should stay in the business line you are in, say house washing or maybe expand by adding window or deck washing, reduce it by doing gutters only or change all together like going into kitchen exhaust work.

This is how it is done: start by dividing a page into four quadrants with a vertical line and a horizontal line.

The top two analysis quadrants are Strengths and Weaknesses. The bottom two quadrants are Opportunities and Threats. Let us say the Question is "Should I add a new rig this year?"

So then with what ever your question is, start to list the things that belong in each section.

You could list in the Strengths that having another rig could increase the number or kind of jobs you do. So in the Opportunity box you could then figure exactly what that number could be and the income opportunity that would bring. Then in the Weaknesses area you may list the extra personal it may take to run it or the limited use you could get out of it during the year and in the Threats of course would be the cost of the rig, also its cost of operation including the cost of the personal to run it.

This way you can see what this could do for your business or if it would be even a good idea at all. And the question does not have to be a large one. It could be as easy as should I increase or change my cell phone plan minutes or carrier?

Too many times the small business person sees what somewhat else is doing thinks "Hey I can do that", or "That is a great idea" and goes off spending time and money without really taking into consideration all the facts. What may be great for some one else may spell disaster for your business.

Here at Soap Warehouse we have lots of big new plans for you and our business this year, but with each one there are steps we have to take to be sure we are getting the results we want and need from these changes.

I wish all of you a very good new year and I hope all your plans are fruitful.

Hello All and Happy Holidays!!

I hope everyone had a good year. That despite the down turn of the economy and that you will continue to be in business this coming year and are looking forward to it.

I know that even with tough situations we faced this year we managed to stay afloat and in the black even if not nearly as well as in years past.

We are looking forward to making changes and offering new things that we hope will keep you, the current customer, happy and bringing new business in the upcoming year and years ahead.

If you have any ideas or comments please let us know. We still need some customer’s current e-mails in order to keep everyone informed. Please forward us an e-mail if you have not received a newsletter or other e-mailed correspondence from us this year.

Thank you and see you next year.

This is a list I got from Entrepreneur magazine a while ago.

Top 11 things to get exposure for your business:

#11. Be reachable - Have a clear and concise business card. Have a press contact listed on your web site that can answer questions and be reached on the first call.

#10. Get on-line. As mentioned in a previous post this is a #1 need in today's market. Add articles even if just links, showing that your company is in the news as a leader.

#9. Perfect your elevator pitch. You should always be able to tell anyone in just a sentence or two what you and your company does, and have a business card with an offer ready as a follow up.

#8. Show your face. Have a press folio made up and photo's available to be used for any print article. Also good to use the same ones on line to let the contact know on site they have the correct company they are looking for or saw info on.

#7. Establish yourself as an expert. Speak at meetings (even if just the Rotary Club), become a media contact for your local newspaper. Write articles or answer questions posted by the general public on web sites.

#6. Do not send sloppy copy. Have a pre created standard press release about you and your company, even if it is just the same statements that you are using on line, that can be used by anyone in the media.

#5. Know your audience. Make sure where the press release is going is where you want your future customers coming from. Local newspaper, subdivision newsletter etc.

#4. Tell the whole story. Think as if you had to write a headline and two paragraphs about your company. What would it say. Be complete, brief and concise with your info.

#3. Plan ahead. Check with publications you read or would want to see your story in. Find out what their upcoming issues will be covering and see if you can write a story or give info that they may want to use and quote you on.

#2. Distribution channels: These are ones that the media go to when looking for information. PRWeb, Business Wire, PRNewswire, Market Wire. If you can get your business story on one or more of these it will work for you.

And #1. Respond Promptly. Most writers are on a time line and will move on to their next contact if you are not immediately available for comment or with a story.

Good luck.